A Sunday Afternoon Drive for Schatz

This one just happened to be worth $10,000 though, as he racked up his first World of Outlaws feature win of the year and fourth overall Florida triumph of the month in DIRTcar Nationals action at Volusia Speedway Park.

Schatz battled past Chad Kemenah just past the midway point of the 25-lapper that was a makeup of Saturday night’s rainout.

“The track held up very well, they did a good job with it,” Schatz said after racking up his 230th career WoO win in the TSR/Curb-Agajanian Arctic Cat No. 15. “We played it safe and went with a little harder tire and that probably hurt us early. They don’t pay for the first lap though, they pay for the last lap.”

For Schatz, it was a rebound from a 14th-place finish in Friday night’s season opening event for the World of Outlaws.

“The driver showed up with a little different attitude today,” Schatz said of the quick turnaround.

While Schatz started from the pole position, Chad Kemenah gunned into the lead at the drop of the green flag as the reigning WoO and All Star champs shared the front row of the feature for the second time in four DIRTcar Nationals main events.

Kemenah fought off a Schatz bid on a lap eight restart but fell victim to the reigning WoO champ when traffic came into play at the midway point.

After taking command on the 13th lap, Schatz weathered a pair of cautions after the 14th lap and raced on to the checkered flag for his 16th career Volusia score.

“I’ve always enjoyed the afternoon shows,” Schatz said. “The track is always a little tricky in the daytime, they gave us a good surface.”

While Schatz sifted through traffic over the closing laps, opening night winner Jason Johnson worked his way past Kemenah to snare runner-up honors in the Priority Aviation No. 41.

“You want to keep him (Schatz) in your sites and we did that,” Johnson said. “I thought we might have a shot at him, but we just couldn’t get going as well on the restarts as they could.”

Kemenah rounded out the podium in third to go along with third and fourth-place finishes earlier in the week with Joey Saldana and fast qualifier David Gravel rounding out the top five.

The DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park wraps up later Sunday with hot laps set for 6:00 p.m.

(World of Outlaws photo)

The Vitals

Series: World of Outlaws

Track: Volusia Speedway Park (Barberville, FL)

Car Count: 36

Quick Time: An early qualifying effort was beneficial with David Gravel setting the standard as the first car out at 13.453. Three drivers that were among the last half of the qualifying run did manage to crack the top ten including Chad Kemenah (fourth quickest, 20th to qualify), Christopher Bell (6th quick, 21st to qualify) and Danny Dietrich (10th quick, 28th to qualify).

Heat Moments: Heats ran off incident-free; highlight of the heats was Kerry Madsen recovering from an early miscue to slide past Rico Abreu in the final corner to steal the final transfer in the second heat.

Dash Winner (starting position in parentheses): Donny Schatz (2).

Dash Moments: After in invert of four, fast-qualifier David Gravel went off on the hook after getting into the turn two guardrail a couple of laps into the Dash.

“B” Main Winner (starting position in parentheses): Aaron Reutzel (2).

“B” Main Moments: Reutzel battled into the lead at the outset and never looked back en route to winning ahead of Abreu; Sheldon Haudenschild raced into his first Volusia feature of the week by finishing third while Shane Stewart slid past Mark Dobmeier for the final transfer just three laps prior to the checkered.

“A” Main Cautions: Three

7 Laps – Aaron Reutzel comes to a stop at the bottom of the track near the entrance to turn one.

14 Laps – Daryn Pittman slows in turn two.

Lap 15 Restart – Brad Sweet spins after contact in turn two to set up a single-file restart.

“A” Main Hard Charger: Kerry Madsen passed the most by climbing eight positions from 19th to 11th.

The Wheatley Chronicles brings insight and highlights from all variety of racing series throughout the nation in 2017 and beyond along with the Open Wheel Power Rankings on a regular basis. Please send any comments, questions or advertising inquiries regarding The Wheatley Chronicles at www.sprintcarmania.com to Lonnie Wheatley at lonniewheatley@gmail.com.